Sunday, December 16, 2007

Install FindBugs, PMD, CheckStyle on NetBeans 6

It seems that there is a bit of confusion regarding the installation of some IMPORTANT plugins on Netbeans 6.0. The new IDE has introduced some internal changes and some of existing plugins do not work and can not be installed using the 'known' update centers.So let's have a look and solve this problem!

SQE is the name of the project that aims to provide integration tools for Netbeans and these important tools! It is hosted on java.net and it can be found here.

They have already provided a beta update center for Netbeans 6.0 which I can confirm that it works. So what you have to do!

1. Open Netbeans 6 and from the Menu Tools select 'Plugins' .

2. On the window that is has just shown up - select the tab 'Settings' . Here is how it looks like!3. Press the Button 'Add' on the right corner and the following window will show up!Enter the title 'SQE' or whatever you like and the url for the update Center is(https://sqe.dev.java.net/updatecenters/sqe/updates.xml).Press OK. Your new update center will be registered to Netbeans!

4. On the same window, click the 'Available Plugins' tab and then the Button 'Reload Catalog' some new plugins will be there!In order to find those you want, in the search box on the right corner type ' SQE' and the relevant items will show up! Check all of them and then select 'Install' See the picture below.

5. Continue with the installation. The following window should come up!Press Next and Agree on the License Agreements notifications..and you are done!

6. Skip Validation errors :After installation a window will show up notifying you about some validation failure - just ignore it and press 'Continue'.7. This is it, you are done. I would suggest you restart the IDE. New ToolBar should be there for you with the Quality tools available! Just click on a project and some of them will be activated!